Int'l Punjabi Conference at Jammu University

According to the UNESCO study, the Punjabi speaking people are spread over 105 countries in the world but the language has flourished most in India.

Former vice chancellor Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, SP Singh on Sunday said that the Punjabi language has helped in blossoming communal brotherhood not only in the country but abroad as well.

"The language acts as a link between the people of this region in foreign countries," Singh said at the inaugural three-day international Punjabi conference held at Jammu University here Sunday where he was the chief guest.

"Literature has to be a part of our culture and same is true of Punjabi," he added.

SS Noor in his address said that while the world was catching up with the trend of globalisation, Punjabi language needed to follow suit. He talked of how people were utilising the web space in putting across their ideas.

However, he said that the language had flourished more from India than Pakistan, where most people in Punjab province speak Punjabi. "Their Punjabi is sweeter than ours but they have not progressed that well in literature. The best Punjabi literati are still from India," Noor said.

However, prominent Punjabi writer from Canada, Darshan Singh Gill highlighted the menace of globalisation and asked the people to be aware of the problems this phenomenon was creating for them.

Dean Academic Affairs and HoD Punjabi Devinder Singh informed that the department of Punjabi had produced 50 PhD and 125 M Phil scholars since 1973 when it was established at Jammu University.

However, he rued over the fact that the department due to visa restrictions to the Pakistani Punjabi writers was not able to hold an Indo-Pak Punjabi writers meet. SP Singh later gave away awards to the prominent journalists in the state.